A7 SS - Couple of Questions

[ncpierce]

Hi,

I am in the process of getting a A7 SS back on the road.  It currently belongs to my brother-in-law and has just had about £4k of engine rebuild from SRM (which my Dad has paid for).  It is a 1959 1960 model and passed its MoT yesterday.  What would it be worth as a non-runner before the work being carried out as I am about to buy it from him and need to know what to offer him? (ideally the cheaper the better)

Was there an original fitment rear rack for this bike and are they still available?

What was contained within the original tool kit? - Or what should I carry with me at all times to enable me to get back home!

We do not have any keys for the steering lock and since it is a Magneto model we have no way of securing it.  Can we remove the lock without the keys and are they easy to replace?

Thanks in anticipation.

Nigel

[RichardL]

Nigel,

Welcome to the forum.Very nice bike, and an SRM engine rebuild as well. That should be most enjoyable.

Replacement locks are available. To remove the lock, remove the grub screw forward of it. The grub screw may be covered by a plug or the like.

As for what to carry, you can find a discussion of that on this forum. I'll go looking for it after posting this.


As for price for the bike, the place to look might be auction results. Try www.midamericaauctions.com or www.jwoodandcompany.com. In th UK, I could not say for sure where to look.

Richard

[LJ.]

Hi there Nigel and welcome to the forum...

Nice bike, I hope you'll have many fun hours riding it.

As to value?

My guess would be around £2,900 to £3,200 in a running order as they are usually said to be better than the A10 because of smoothness and less prone to vibration. As a 'non' runner it depends on what you mean by that, would it be non running because of long term standing? or engine completely knackered due to wear? In which case then maybe it would be worth around £2,000.

I might totally wrong here with these prices, but would love to hear of others opinions...

[RichardL]

Nigel,

Here's the link to the topic with the discussion of what to carry on a ride.

Richard

[ncpierce]

Thanks for the reponses so far.

As to value?

My guess would be around £2,900 to £3,200 in a running order as they are usually said to be better than the A10 because of smoothness and less prone to vibration. As a 'non' runner it depends on what you mean by that, would it be non running because of long term standing? or engine completely knackered due to wear? In which case then maybe it would be worth around £2,000.

It was a runner and then on the way back from its MoT last year the bearing in the bottom of the conrod - around the crank - seized on one of the pistons and created a lot of damage to the bores etc which necessitated in the rebuild.  It took us a while to get the bikes to my parents house and then get the rebuild sorted with SRM.  So the engine was completely knackered, we think due to oil starvation at the bottom.  From the bits that SRM have sent us back it looks like the other bearing was on its way out as well.  If I get a minute I will photograph the bits.

I am looking to make him a fairish offer bearing in mind that if he does not accept my offer he owes my Dad just under £4k for the engine rebuild.  Dad is happy to fund the engine rebuild for me but we want ownership of the bike.  Orginially the bikes was my brother-in-law's dad's bike so he has not purchased it in the first place - merely inherited it!

Thanks for any assistance.

Nigel

[LJ.]

Sounds a bit of a receipe for a family fall out if not careful. Hope all goes well and you get good rides now that the bike is running again, it'll need a good 'long' running in with generous oil changes and it'll then last you years before another rebuild. Keep us posted of your progresses and of course there is plenty of info here at your disposal if you should need help.

Cheers!

[tombeau]

Hi there,
I have to agree with LJ, it does sound like a potential family fallout.
£4,000 will buy you a perfect A7ss. In fact I think there was a really nice one advertised in last months Classic Bike for about £3,500. Paying any more because its family involved would be foolish.

I think your dad writing off the cost off the rebuild in exchange for the bike would be a very decent offer. However your Brother in law might well see it differently. I would suggest you advise your BiL to try and sell it privately, if he has no takers, you can come to that arrangement. I would be very surprised if he can recoup his loss, and potential buyers, in what is after all a buyers market, would be far more ruthless than you. A couple of months waiting for the 'phone to ring and dealing with a few tyre kickers and sharks will convince him of the actual value of the bike much more effectively than you ever will.
Do you really want this particular bike?
You could suggest he watches this one on ebay just now...of course you never know it could go for £8,000 and thats you scuppered


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/B-S-A-A7-SS-SHOOTING-STAR_W0QQitemZ320315726601QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item320315726601&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A1%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318


Cheers,
Iain

[ncpierce]

I think your dad writing off the cost off the rebuild in exchange for the bike would be a very decent offer. However your Brother in law might well see it differently. I would suggest you advise your BiL to try and sell it privately, if he has no takers, you can come to that arrangement.

The way I see it the options open are:-

He pays for the rebuild and then sells me the bike = £4k payment from him then I pay him back SAY £3k for the bike he looses £1k
I buy the bike now for a nominal fee and he does not pay for the rebuild = If I can haggle with him and point the above out to him I may get him to sell it for considerably less.

Thanks for the guidance chaps!

Do you really want this particular bike?

Well it has a known good engine and a known history so yes!

[ncpierce]

Just to update you all on this one!

The bike is now mine  .

I negotiated with him and offered him a nominal fee for the bike.  This was accepted but the fee will be paid with my Kawasaki KLX250 which he wants off me as a winter hack when it is replaced by a BMW 650 X-Challenge.

I will sort some photos of the various damaged engine components and some more pictures of the bike.  All I need to sort now is the steering lock.  Any hints on how to get the old lock barrel out???

[LJ.]

The bike is now mine   .

Hoorah! well done Nigel... and welcome to BSA ownership. Hope family is all still very friendly 

The steering lock,  something that I have been meaning to do on my A10. With the nacelle in the way it seems to look very difficult in getting at the grub screw that secures the barrel in place. You can see this screw when headlamp is removed and handle bars are moved to oneside. The job could be done if you have the correct screwdriver and a ton of patience and hopefully that the screw is not in too tight. I would then think the barrel could be removed (upwards) quite easily. Not done this job before so let me/us know how you get on. I assume you have got another barrel to put in? Got mine from George Prew for something like £12.

[RichardL]

So, I guess having an ear-mounted headlight has the advantange of easy access to the grub screw. Once you can access it, take a close look to make sure there is still a good slot in the screw. Find a screwdriver that is a near-perfect fit. If you don't have one, grind an old one to a nice tight fit. Be careful with the heat of grinding to avoid losing all hardness. Don't bother trying to loosen the grub screw before an overnight soaking with Liquid Wrench or your local equivalent. If it then does no let loose, you will need to do surgery. It's hard to say if the typical tapered extractor will work, but it is a big problem if it breaks off in the effort. A friend of mine just introducd me to left-handed drill bits that you use as extractors by increasing in size until there is not enough left of the screw to maintain its grip.

After the grub screw is out, I think you could drive out the lock from the bottom when the lock is turned away from the pin receptor. Otherwise, assuming you've decided the lock is shot, you could use a screw-type dent puller.

Well, that's enough of my opion. Let us know what happens.

Richard L.

[ncpierce]

Well...

We had a bit of a look this afternoon to see how we could get the lock barrel out.  I can find no info on the net for doing this - assume this is because people do not want their bike stolen!

We undid the two fork caps with the view to taking the top cowl off to see how it was fitted but we can not get this off due to the lock being not quite straight in the hole  .  You can feel underneath that there is a hole in the side of the tube that it is fitted in to but I am not sure is this is the grub screw hole with the grub screw concealed in it.  Since we have no key could we just drill out the barell and collapse the lock mechanism?

Does the lock work by dropping a pin into the tube on the frame to the right hand side of the bike?

Is this the right type of lock? http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/STEERING-LOCK-AND-KEYS-BSA-NORTON-TRIUMPH_W0QQitemZ120319183761QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item120319183761&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1299%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318#ebayphotohosting

[RichardL]

Considering your tins are still in place, I'm not sure you've had a chance to see where the grub screw is. So, here are a couple of photos. In the photo of the underside of my top tree, pay no attention to where my lock is, because my top tree is from an A50. What I am trying to show you is the portion that is angled upwards at around 45 degrees. At the top of that angled portion is the hole that your lock pin drops into. The angled portion, along with the plate at the top of it, forms a reinforced structure for security of the lock.

Richard L.

[tombeau]

Great news! Well done! Enjoy!
Cheers,
iain

[A10Boy]

A lot of people with magnetos take a wire from the earth cut out and fit a "secret switch" which earths the mag so the motor wont start. The choice of location is yours.